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Ontario college students could see their semester cut short just as they are coming back to class. The faculty employees' union and the College Employee Council (CEC) have been meeting since yesterday until this evening for a final non-binding mediation session. Should the CEC and the union fail to reach a new deal, faculty across the province could go on strike January 9th.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) submitted their five-day notice of labour action last Saturday. Union members are rallying against 30 concessions proposed by the CEC, including but not limited to:
- an increased probationary period,
- replacement of full-time positions with part-time staff,
- cutting of work hours/vacation days,
- and unpaid labour.
According to the OPSEU college faculty bargaining team, “CEC and the Colleges are implementing an austerity agenda that undermines the bargaining process”.
OPSEU, representing 15,000 college faculty, has been in negotiations since July of last year. The union has claimed that since the first day of bargaining, the CEC has acted in bad faith, “in fact, on the first day of bargaining the CEC did not come to the table with any actual proposals but with a series of values and goals”.
Over the course of the last decade, the Ontario colleges have taken on over 100,000 students, but only hired 500 full-time staff. Over 50 percent of faculty, librarians, and councillors are part-time workers who are hired on semesterly—approximately 4 months long—contracts.
For part-time faculty, much of their work goes unpaid—lesson planning, student support, and marking are tasks workers are not paid for.
With increasing classroom sizes, and an apparent funding crisis, the CEC is pushing its cost-cutting measures as methods to “increase efficiency”.
OPSEU stated in their labour-action announcement, “Workers and students should never pay the price for the failure of the Ford government and the Colleges in mismanaging post-secondary education in Ontario”.
In February 2024, the provincial government announced an investment of $1.3 billion into post-secondary institutions—only half of the recommended funding determined by a provincial panel to navigate funding shortfalls. Of course, the level of funding granted to colleges by the provincial government is determined by institutions proving their “efficiency”.
The college faculty have made their position clear, “no concessions, better wages to combat the cost-of-living crisis, an end to unpaid labour, and enhanced job security protections”.